


Part One - A Prince in Princess’s Clothing

by doctor_badass



Series: Merthuretta Series [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Genderbending, Genderswap, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-14
Updated: 2013-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 09:29:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1003769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctor_badass/pseuds/doctor_badass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthuretta has hidden things from her mother, Uthra, in the past, like her training to be a knight, but never as strange or unexpected as this. Merlina, her servant, has seemed to have affection only for her lover, Morgan, but she slips up one time, and everything is flipped. Genderwise, that is. ;)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Part One - A Prince in Princess’s Clothing

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, I would like to thank my Beta Tester, Sumar, for reading and supporting my fanfics and being so goddamn lovable. Party on.
> 
> I would also like to thank always_afterallthistime on Instagram for actually wanting to read this! That's pretty chill, I would think.

Part One - A Prince in Princess’s Clothing

 

Upon first glance, the hooded man winding his way through the crowded streets of Camelot was just another early morning shopper, out to get his daily herbs or something else normal. Which was exactly what he wanted you to think. If you had happened to approach him with questions regarding his business there, you would likely be ignored, with only an apologetic shrug hinting that this stranger had heard you at all. Had you pushed him even further for information, you would likely feel oddly compelled to forget any questions you may have previously had, and walk away completely. Which is exactly what he wanted to happen to you. For this stranger has a deep secret, one that, if you knew it, would have this stranger sent to the dungeons by the queen herself, a cruel woman who just happened to have this stranger as a daughter.

After rounding the turn in the road leading away from Camelot, Arthuretta pushed back her hood, sighing impatiently. Merlina was nearly always late at this part, and today was no exception. Plunging into the bracken, Arthuretta glanced about for the vines that hid the small cave where she and Merlina kept their belongings and occasionally lodged for the night. Finally recognizing the telltale leaves that grew down over the entrance to the cave, she ducked down and drew the vines aside to get into the small space that had become more familiar to her than Camelot itself. 

After cleaning her sword for the fifth time, Arthuretta heard, at last, Merlina clumsily crashing through the thicket towards her. 

“Oh, for the love of-” Arthuretta began to shout, beyond furious as Merlina stumbled through the vines, nearly snapping her bow, which was resting on the floor, in two. Any further complaints she had were halted, as Merlina had bumbled right into Arthuretta’s own arms. 

“Goodness, my apologies!” Merlina giggled as she wrapped her arms around Arthuretta’s shoulders and pressed her lips against the latter’s.

Aurthuretta reeled back, astonished at her servant’s strange behavior. Merlina had never shown any sign of romantic interest in her before now, so what was causing this?

“Merlina! May I remind you of your duties?” Aurthuretta practically growled. “What on earth do you think you’re doing? Need I remind you of Morgan?” Merlina blushed and ducked her head, moving as far away from her as possible in the small space allowed.

“I..I know that!” Merlina stuttered, embarrassed by the mention of the object of her affections, Morgan Pendragon. “It wasn’t a...a romantic kiss, I was just a bit giddy, tha-that’s all.”

Arthuretta exhaled, partly in relief and partly in exasperation. “Were you at the tavern again? I’ve told you time and again, one whiff of the bar maid’s apron and you’re singing like a sailor!” Merlina looked relieved, but mouthed these last few words along with her, having heard this speech far too many times.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I was doing! Silly me, why I never listen to your brilliant advice is a mystery to me!” Merlina explained somewhat nervously. Arthuretta passed a hand over her face, still clearly uncomfortable. Her silence never lasted, however, and her head abruptly jerked up at another sudden thought.

“You should have been covering for me in the courtyard, you idiot!” she ranted, unprepared to give up the subject of Merlina’s idiocy quite yet. Merlina looked briefly as if she were about to put up a fight, a light blazing up in her eyes as quickly as a forest fire. Forcibly extinguishing it, she rolled her eyes.

“Ah, of course, _my liege,_ ”  she groaned, moving to exit the cave.

“You know, I don’t have to put up with this!” Arthuretta huffed, collecting her weapons and shoving them into Merlina’s arms. “I’m the princess of Camelot!”

“And you sound more and more like a royal prat every day” Merlina muttered, her arms overflowing with her master’s belongings.

 

Their hunt was semi-successful. If you had asked Merlina, at least. In Arthuretta’s opinion, she was amazed that the entire forest couldn’t hear Merlina bumbling through. She has scared off nearly every potential meal that had come their way, except for an arthritic rabbit that hadn’t even heard them coming. Not that any of the food was for themselves, of course. They would bag the animals they caught, which were usually hardly at all, if Merlina was involved. and donate them to the poor of Camelot. Arthuretta dared not do this without her disguise, lest her mother find out.

Uthra, the current queen of Camelot, had expectations for her daughter that, for Arthuretta, were impossible to fulfill. A constant parade of potential suitors were constantly being led through the halls of Camelot, presented in front of Uthra and Arthuretta, and immediately discarded. Although Uthra insisted that her daughter was the one making it so difficult, she had much to do with the problem. These unfortunate men, varying from their stride to their haircut, were judged by the queen from the second they walked into the throne room. Arthuretta, more often than not, had no say in this decision, although she usually agreed with her mother. Knowing that they would be discarded at some time or another, she would closely inspect them, trying to determine their fighting style from their stance, and decide whether or not she would challenge them to a knightly duel from behind the safety of a closed helmet lid after her mother released her.

Trudging wearily through the darkened forest, Arthuretta vaguely wondered what would happen if her mother could see her now. Dressed in baggy men’s clothing and caked in layers of dried mud (from Merlina’s attempt to ambush a deer), she was sure she looked a fright, not to mention her mother would have a heart attack if she knew that Arthuretta had been “borrowing” the knight’s clothes to wear on expeditions such as these. And that the knights were the ones who had gladly given them to her, knowing the purpose for the clothes.

As she thought of her overbearing mother, her eyes wandered over the trail ahead of her, and over Merlina, leading the way back home, her clothes spattered with mud and streaked with grass, and with the nearly empty sack hanging over her shoulder, bouncing up and down as she walked. She gazed at the back of her head, her eyes unfocused, and before she knew it, she was staring at the back of Merlina’s pants, also painted with mud, and thinking about more than the washing Merlina would have to do tonight.

Realizing what she was doing, she jerked back, causing her large hood to fall off of her head. Merlina turned around with a questioning gaze, but Arthuretta’s piercing one made her quickly turn it back around. 

Aghast at this sudden flood of feelings, Arthuretta tried to think about the punishment her mother would likely force upon her, and Morgan and Merlina’s muffled snickers from behind a pillar. She shook her head, trying to concentrate on how _annoying_ they were together. They were barely tolerable by themselves, but they seemed to constantly plot ways to irritate her behind closed doors. At least, that was what she _hoped_ they were doing. Her eyes widening, Arthuretta realized her mistake in her thought process. Merlina and Morgan were happy with each other, who was she to try and tear them apart? Well, besides the princess of Camelot...

 

Their return did not provoke a warm reception. Gairess, Merlina’s mentor, gave them a stern look as she reluctantly accepted their filthy clothes for washing, silently glaring at them as she dumped the pile in a tub of what was supposed to be her own bath water. Realizing she was no longer welcome there, Arthuretta hurried towards the refuge of her rooms, only to be intercepted by a smug-looking Morgan.

“Your dear mother requests your presence in the throne room” he practically crowed. Leaning towards her, he whispered, “And don’t think I didn’t see that little episode with Merlina.” Arthuretta balked, instantly thinking of the kiss she had so scolded her servant for, but had been on her mind ever since. Chuckling, Morgan began to saunter away.

“This was definitely the first time I have seen the princess of Camelot decline the opportunity to change in front of a servant,” he mocked. Arthuretta exhaled deeply, knowing he was instead referring to her habit of changing into her armor with the knights present, a habit she developed from the long years of secretly training with them and thinking of them as her siblings, and vice versa. Admittedly, she _had_ felt uncomfortable changing out of her ruined clothes in front of her servant. Although she had done it many times, it was always behind the sanctuary of a dressing screen. After the “incident,” however, she suddenly felt more bashful than ever of changing in front of Merlina.

Sullenly tracing the too-familiar steps to the throne room, Arthuretta hoped there wasn’t any dirt on her face. Judging from her luck so far today, however, she suspected that her entire forehead was probably filthy.

Entering the throne room was breathtaking for anyone who didn’t almost live in it, such as Arthuretta. (Her mother was the only exception, because she was very self-centered in that way). By far the largest room in the castle, it was adorned with various tapestries from throughout the ages. Despite Arthuretta’s protests, Uthra refused to have them taken down and cleaned for fear of them falling apart. Because of this, there was always dust floating dreamily through the air (which often caused those suitors with an allergy to such to be dismissed immediately, for fear of contaminating the royal household with their sneezing), and when the sun shone on the particles through the tall windows, it created a strange effect which Arthuretta spent most of her time in the throne room staring at absentmindedly.  

Arthuetta had hoped to be with her mother alone, to avoid having to suffer in front of others, but Morgan had somehow beat her there, and Merlina and Gairess were standing in a corner. Her mother, seated at the throne and looking like a moth, narrowed her eyes at Arthuretta as she crossed the floor.

“And where have _you_ been all day?” she barked. “There was a suitor waiting for you for nearly half an hour! Fortunately, he was one of those sickly ones, so I sent him away quickly enough, but you should have been there, nevertheless.” As Uthra droned on about her duties as princess, Arthuretta slowly slid her gaze over to where Morgan leaned against a pillar. His arms crossed, he was smirking at whatever Uthra was ranting about, but as she looked, his eyes traveled to where Merlina stood, her hands behind her back, identical to Gairess. Suddenly, _her_ eyes flicked to meet Morgan’s and they both flashed small, nervous, smiles, that obviously held more meaning than one might think. 

Rage suddenly boiling up in Arthuretta’s stomach, she excused herself, interrupting her mother’s speech, and stormed out of the throne room, breaking into as close to a sprint as she could get in her _stupid_ dress. Hiking up her skirts, she raced even faster away from her _overbearing_ mother, that _immature_ Morgan, and that..that.. _dollophead_ Merlina! Servants and guards alike jumped out of the way as she ran by, one even falling out of a window. Gwainira, a fellow lady-knight, tried to run after her, as she was one of her dearest friends, but Arthuretta called to her to stop. She almost immediately regretted shunning her friend like that, but she was becoming increasingly desperate. 

At last reaching her destination, Arthuretta nearly flew into the stables, which were empty at this time of day. Bolting the heavy door behind her, she breathed in the fresh smell of clean, dry, hay. Her mare, Llamrei, was out in the pastures, but she didn’t mind. Unlike other princesses she had spoken with, she didn’t dote on her horse and never ride it, like they did. She appreciated the mare, obviously, and treated her with respect, but that was as far as she would go with a relationship like that.

Climbing into the loft, where the girl who attended to the horses, Jill, slept, she crawled over the rough, wood floor to the small window which gave a pleasant view of the streets of Camelot. She rested her head on the sill, furrowing her blonde brow as she scrutinized the last of the evening shoppers. Everything in Camelot had an order, she realized, one that had been repeated over and over for centuries, barely changing. But she had no part in it anymore. She could never fit in now. They might as well disown her, as she was doomed to be an outcast for life.

So lost in her troubling thoughts, she didn’t even feel the hand slowly come to rest on her shoulder. Whipping around and preparing for a fight, she was startled to see Merlina kneeling behind her with sympathy in her blue eyes.

“What..what are you..I thought I locked that door!” Arthuretta stammered, astonished to see her servant there at such an inconvienient time. Rashly, she wondered if she looked acceptable.

Without responding, Merlina closed her eyes and slowly leaned towards Arthuretta, taking her time in case her princess would object. But she didn’t move away, she only stayed frozen as the person she had been served by for so long gently pressed her lips to her own. 

The kiss wasn’t like their last, which had been sudden and unprepared for. It was deeply meaningfull. They seemed to have a wordless conversation as it happened, one that couldn’t be translated into any language, only felt in the deepest essence of one’s very being. 

As she recovered, Arthuretta finally grasped the situation. _Yes,_ she was kissing her servant. _Yes,_ she knew she’d wanted it for much longer than she’d thought. And _yes,_ she was enjoying it immensely. Coming to her senses, she entangled her hands in Merlina’s dark hair, pushing her down so Merlina was laying on her back and Arthuretta was on top of her. Exactly where she wanted to be.

Continuing the increasingly sensual kiss, her hands came alive, growing a mind of their own as they furiously worked to undo every button and untie every lace in sight. Merlina gasped as Arthuretta buried her face in her neck, but then smiled slyly. Flipping her over so _she_ was on top, Merlina took control of the evening.

  “Looks like I’ll be the one in charge tonight” she chuckled, flicking her tongue out at Arthuretta.

 

Arthuretta braced herself. This was the moment of truth. Looking over at the person she loved the most, her strength was restored. She took Merlina’s hand in her own, breathed in, and opened the door.

“Ah, Artie!” Gwainira squealed. “I found your old swo-” She broke off abruptly as she spotted her best friend holding hands with her own servant. Her expression of surprise quickly turned to one of confusion.

“But..you HATE her!” she exclaimed, looking quite odd wearing only half of her armor, having been interrupted by the entrance of her friend.

Arthuretta only smiled and shyly pecked Merlina on the cheek, whose deep blush complimented her fair skin, making her look like an angel in servant’s clothing.


End file.
